Rolling mill



June 12, 1934.

J. GASSEN 1,962,586

ROLLING MILL Filed March 31, 1933 'INVEN TOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented June 12, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ROLLING MILL Application March 31, 1933, Serial N0. 663,750 In Germany April 8, 1932 4 Claims.

My invention relates to rolling mills, and the particular object of the present invention is to improve the cooling operation so as to produce a more uniform product free from defects.

With the ever increasing manufacture of different kinds of steel, there goes hand in hand an also increasing need of so controlling the cooling operation of the rolled bars as is best suited to the particular kind of steel produced.

The cooling beds heretofore constructed do not enable the cooling operation to be effectively controlled, and since until recently there existed comparatively little need for such control, because only a small amount of special steel, as compared with the normal ingot iron, was rolled, one resorted to subjecting the special kinds of steel totempering methods which needed not be carried out directly after the rolling process. Such tempering operation, however, is very expensive, which led rolling mill owners to look for means, whereby the object would be obtained in a more economical and better way. Thus, for instance, in the case of spring-steels, the attempt has been made to obtain a slower and more uniform cooling by the stacking of the rolled bars one against the other along their broad side. While this resulted in success to a certain extent in that the structure of a large portion of the cross-section of the bar was improved, the cross-sectional portions along the narrow sides of the bars were not improved, because in these portions the cooling was not the same and was less uniform than in the central portions of the bars. And in the further treatment of the bars it was found that such a nonuniform cooling eifect, as far as the narrow sides of the bars were concerned, could not be avoided. As a consequence, the material, in spite of the good structure of its major portion, when later subjected to a finishing treatment, became useless, because of the internal stresses therein, due to the unequal cooling on the cooling bed.

Similar phenomena were observed with other kinds of special steels, and the object of the present invention, therefore, is to devise a cooling method, whereby the above indicated drawbacks are successfully avoided. In accordance with this invention, I use instead of a single cooling bed two cooling beds, one of which has a cooling surface extending through a heating oven. Furthermore, the live roller loading bed of the first or normal cooling bed is so connected with the delivery roller conveyor of the special cooling bed that the special steel bars, 55. if required, can be sorted into the loading pockets of the special cooling bed as well as into those of the normal cooling bed.

Such an arrangement also is of advantage for the operation of the normal cooling bed in as far as the efficiency of this bed can be increased, in that by the cold shears combined therewith greater lengths than commercial lengths are cut, which subsequently are cut by the cold shears of the special cooling bed into commercial H lengths, a method of operation, which is possible without any further means, because in the great majority of cases the work is done either for the normal cooling bed or for the special cooling bed.

On the annexed drawing, on which I have shown, by way of illustration, in a diagrammatic manner a cooling bed arrangement embodying the present invention, Fig. 1 is a plan view of the cooling bed arrangement, while Fig. 2 is a cross-section through the cooling bed provided lie with the heating oven.

Referring to the drawing in detail, 4 designates a normal cooling bed which may be of any well known or desired construction, and 5 designates an associated special cooling bed which 8% likewise may be of any well known or desired construction and which is disposed at the rear end of said normal cooling bed in, or substantially in, longitudinal alinement therewith. At '7 is indicated a heating oven associated with the special cooling bed 5 to assure relatively slow and uniform cooling of rolled bars or other articles which are moved across said bed 5.

Extending along one side of the normal cooling bed 4 is a loading roller conveyor 2 the forward end of which is disposed in article receiving relationship to the delivery end of a train of rolls, designated as 1, and the rear end of which is disposed in article delivery relationship to the forward end of an alined feeding chute 17 which extends along the related side of the special cooling bed 5. Between the conveyor 2 and the chute 1'7 are shears 6.

Extending along the opposite side of the normal cooling bed 4 is a delivery roller conveyor 9, while extending along the related side of the special cooling bed 5 is a receiving roller conveyor 10 which is alined with the conveyor 9 and which constitutes in effect an extension of the latter conveyor. Between the conveyors 9 and. 10 are shears 14.

Also extending along the second mentioned side of the special cooling bed 5, between said bed and the conveyor 10, is a delivery roller conveyor 8, at the rear end of which, in alinement therewith,

is disposed a receiving roller conveyor 11 constituting in effect an extension of the delivery roller conveyor 8. Between the conveyors 8 and 11 are shears 15.

To either side of the loading roller conveyor 11 are bar or article receiving pockets designated as 12, while at the outer side of the receiving roller conveyor 10 are bar or article receiving pockets designated as 13.

Extending between the conveyors 8 and 10 are transverse conveyor elements 16 of any well known or desired construction for transferring bars or articles from either of said conveyors to the other.

The operation of the apparatus is as follows: The rolled bars or other articles coming from the rolls 1 are delivered onto the loading roller conveyor 2 of the normal cooling bed 4 and, if necessary or desirable, are out into required lengths by shears 3 associated with said conveyor 2. After the bars are delivered to the conveyor 2 they may be caused to follow either of two different courses. First, they may be caused to pass from the conveyor 2 across the normal cooling bed 4 to the conveyor 9 and thence to the receiving conveyor 10, either to be discharged into the pockets 13 or to be moved by the transverse conveyor elements 16 from said conveyor 10 to the conveyor 8 for delivery by the latter to the conveyor 11 for discharge into the pockets 12. Second, they may be caused to be delivered from the conveyor 2 to the feed chute 17 and to be fed across the special cooling bed 5 to the conveyor 8, either for delivery by said conveyor 8 to the conveyor 11 and discharge into the pockets 12, or for transfer by the transverse conveyor elements 16 from said conveyor 8 to the conveyor and discharge into the pockets 13.

When special cooling of the bars or articles is not required their normal course is from the conveyor 2 across the cooling bed 4 to the conveyor 9 and from the latter conveyor and the receiving conveyor 10 to either the pockets 13 or 12 as aforementioned, and when following this course either or both of the shears 14 and 15 may be employed to cut the bars or articles into required lengths. On the other hand, when special cooling of the bars or articles is required the bars or articles are caused to follow the second mentioned course across the bed 5 and through the oven 7 for discharge finally into either the pockets 12 or 13, and when following this course either or both the shears 6 and 15 may be employed to out the bars or articles into required lengths. As a rule, the shears 6 or 14 are employed to cut the bars or articles into sections and the shears 15 are employed in either case to cut the sections into shorter lengths.

Preferably the chute 1'7 is adjustable in width as indicated at 18 to accommodate bars or articles of difierent widths.

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill, in combination, a first cooling bed, a loading roller conveyor at one side of i said bed, a delivery roller conveyor at the other side of said bed, a second coooling bed serially disposed with respect to said first cooling bed, a receving roller conveyor at one side of the second cooling bed alined with the delivery roller conveyor of the first cooling bed, shears between the delivery roller conveyor of the first bed and said receiving roller conveyor, a feed chute at the other side of the second cooling bed alined with the loading roller conveyor of the first cooling bed, shears between said feed chute and the load ing roller conveyor of the first bed, a delivery roller conveyor at the same side of the second bed as the receiving roller conveyor and disposed between the latter conveyor and said second bed, transverse conveyor means between said receiving roller conveyor and the delivery roller conveyor of the second bed, loading pockets associated with said transverse conveyor means, a conveyor alined with the delivery roller conveyor of the second bed, shears between the last mentioned conveyor and the delivery roller conveyor of the second bed, loading pockets associated with the conveyor which is alined with the delivery conveyor of the second bed, and a heating oven combined with the second cooling bed.

2. In a rolling mill, in combination, a first cooling bed, a second cooling bed, heating means combined with said second cooling bed, separate loading and delivery means for each bed, collecting means associated with each delivery means, the loading means of the respective beds being alined, the delivery means of the respective beds being disalined and disposed in overlapping relationship, and transverse conveying means between the two delivery means for feeding stock from either delivery means to the other so that the stock after passing over either cooling bed may be discharged into the collection means associated with either of the delivery means.

3. In a rolling mill, in combination, a first cooling bed, a second cooling bed, heating means combined with said second cooling bed, separate loading and delivery means for each bed, collecting means associated with each delivery means, the delivery means of the respective beds be: ing disposed, at least in part, in side to side relationship, and transverse conveying means between the two delivery means for feeding stock from either delivery means to the other so that the stock after passing over either cooling bed may be discharged into the collection means associated with either of the delivery means.

4. In a rolling mill, in combination, a first cooling bed, a second cooling bed, heating means combined with said second cooling bed, separate loading and delivery means for each bed, collecting means disposed laterally with respect to each delivery means, shears associated with each delivery means, the loading means of the respective beds being alined, the delivery means of the respective beds being disposed, at least in part, in side to side relationship, and transverse conveying means between the two delivery means for feeding stock from either delivery means to the other so that the stock after passing over either cooling bed may be discharged into the collection means associated with either of the delivery means.

J OSEF GASSEN. 

